Friday on my mind
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October 28, 2016, 10:28 am
Filed under: Uncategorized
Filed under: Uncategorized
There is a story in today’s Times that the early season Championship matches will begin on Fridays. This is clearly a good idea since it prevents supporters becoming complacent about the season’s fixtures
I’m thinking about writing a book about county cricket called Forever Changes. What do you think?
Meanwhile overseas, England fought back amazingly well today with the ball, but Ballance has just gone and once again the specialist batsmen fail against spin. Duckett was out for seven in just five balls which might be a record for a Test opener! It feels like the spirit of Milburn – except he doesn’t get scores (yet?).
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Hampshire Cricket History 
I had heard about the proposed Friday early season starts a few weeks ago from a friend who is a Surrey member so it seems it might well happen.
Presumably Friday play will have to stop when the T20 season starts although with the ECB in charge we might end up with championship play starting at 1am on those days.
Comment by James October 28, 2016 @ 2:10 pmHere’s the 2012 announcement of the Four year plan 2014-2018
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/587249.html
Comment by Jeremy October 28, 2016 @ 5:08 pmAh yes, the one that states “A desire to preserve the primacy of Championship cricket”. That’s going well isn’t it?
Comment by James October 28, 2016 @ 5:13 pm“the biggest customer survey ever undertaken by English cricket…. Morgan’s proposals that the Championship should be reduced have finally been defeated after strong opposition from players, coaches and supporters…. His preference for T20 cricket to be spread over the season has, though, found more favour…. “The ECB Board noted the strong desire from counties and spectators to create an ‘appointment to view’ for T20 cricket spread over a longer period of the season.””
For some reason this has reminded me of that Billy Connolly sketch, suggesting the National anthem should be replaced by the Archers theme tune.
Which set me wondering about an appropriate tune for the ECB.
Any advance on the “Pink Panther”? At least Inspector Clousseau was born in Southsea.
And Dr Strangelove of course!
Comment by Jeremy October 29, 2016 @ 6:09 amCome on Jeremy it’s obvious. Abba’s “Money, Money, Money”!
Comment by James October 29, 2016 @ 10:50 amOne thought on a Friday start, it will mean play on Saturday and Sunday, so working people have more chance to watch.
Comment by Bob Murrell October 28, 2016 @ 9:51 pmI like Friday for that reason but why can’t there be just a little stability?
Comment by Dave Allen October 29, 2016 @ 6:36 amThat review mentioned by Jeremy, is just four years old and was to start just two years ago. Now they are changing or wish to change the two main points – Championship starts on Sunday and T20 through the season. They are simply making everything up as they go along; they have no idea what works and they have no interest in helping supporters, especially occasional supporters, to get familiar with the fixture calendar. Compare that for example with 1969.
Comment by Dave Allen October 29, 2016 @ 6:41 amVery true. It would have been far more honest if the four year plan had simply been a blank sheet of paper.
Comment by James October 29, 2016 @ 10:48 amIndeed we will Bob……those of us that still work have to plan our viewing & risk booking holiday well in advance (without any idea of the weather conditions etc) so normally once the fixtures are announced. At least a Friday start will mean people can/probably will risk a Friday and or a Monday off. I appreciate there are people that do work weekends so this new scheduling won’t please them. On that note, a variety of start days might actually mean that more people can attend across the season as a whole? Personally, I think the Monday starts might well have contributed to the decline in attendances…….certainly affected me.
Comment by joster69 October 31, 2016 @ 6:53 amI’m certain you are right about Monday starts Jo – exacerbated for Hampshire by the fact that at the Ageas Bowl workers/schoolkids can’t so easily pop down to the ground for the last hour (+) after work. Once they lose the habit of attendance, it’s not easy to get them back.
A key reason for midweek Championship games in the 1990s (etc) was to get the corporates to come in for a whole day. In those days there was money to do it, so sod the real supporters. I used to grumble about it in my days on the Committee. Where are all those corporate ‘fans’ now I wonder?
Comment by pompeypop October 31, 2016 @ 9:30 amI am very much in favour of Friday starts at least in early season, for the same reasons as mentioned by Bob and Jo. At least it is a step in the right direction. I recently spoke to Stuart Robertson and he agreed with me that “appointment to view” start days for Championship matches were not necessary and as Jo says a variety of start days may be better, after all for the last 2 seasons after late July we have had games starting on all sorts of days!
Comment by Martin October 31, 2016 @ 10:17 amI am also in favour of Friday starts and I would very much like to bring some of my working friends to watch Championship cricket on Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately whilst we charge those that pay on the day an extra £5 this is unlikely to happen as, with the often inclement weather, they are reluctant to book in advance.
Yet another obstacle in the way of getting people to watch Championship cricket.
Comment by James October 31, 2016 @ 12:38 pm